John Ringo: Choosers of the Slain

“Why? It’s more fun if it’s by surprise,” Mike said, getting out of bed. “Want something to drink?”

“I should be serving you,” Tinata pointed out.

“Be a little hard at the moment,” Mike said, opening up the fridge. “Coke?”

“Please,” Tinata said, sitting up and fumbling to pull a pillow behind her. “I’ve never been blind before. It’s not nice.”

“But it’s passing, yes?” Mike asked.

“Yes,” Tinata admitted. “I can see shapes.”

“Here,” Mike said, putting the open Coke bottle in her hand.

She fumbled at it and lifted it to her lips, carefully.

“That’s good,” she said, smiling. “I’m seeing better.”

“Good,” Mike said, taking a pull off of his own Coke. “As soon as you can see clearly, we’ll start again.”

“So you can make me blind again?” Tinata asked, laughing.

“If I can,” Mike admitted, smiling. “Are you saying it wasn’t fun? Besides, you never finished your blowjob.”

Over the next four hours he screwed Tinata through three applications of lubricant and various complaints of swelling, along with more orgasms than the poor girl could count. Only when she was entirely spent and supine did he finally allow himself to cum. And it was a hard one, fully curling his toes.

“Kildar…” Tinata said as he slid a towel under her, gently, to catch the outflow.

“Hmmm?” Mike asked, pulling her to cuddle into his shoulder.

“Wonderful…”

“Shhh,” Mike said. “Sleep.”

Mike lay there, thinking about his task list, until her breathing was regular and it was clear she was deeply asleep. Then he slid out of bed, carefully arranging a pillow under her head, and put on his clothes. He had plenty of work he should have been doing, but sometimes you just had to take time to make sure the harem was happy.

“Okay, buddy, what do you take?” Adams asked when Mike got to his office. The former chief was sitting in one of the chairs with his feet up, apparently awaiting his arrival.

“What do you mean?” Mike asked, sitting down and clearing his screensaver with his password.

“I timed it, this time,” Adams said. “Three hours and forty-seven minutes from the first shriek until your door opened. I mean, are you getting black market Viagra or something?”

“I don’t need Viagra,” Mike said, shrugging and pulling up the spreadsheet on Keldara costs. He’d made a pretty penny from killing wanted terrorists and “securing” a few nukes that otherwise would have left large holes in cities. But the Keldara were costing like crazy and it was just amazing how fast the money bled away.

“Oysters?” Adams asked.

“Christ, you’re not going to let this go, are you?” Mike asked, leaning back in his chair.

“How many times did she come, anyway?” Adams asked. “The shrieks were getting pretty muted by the end.”

“I don’t know,” Mike admitted, trying not to grin. “I only counted the times she went blind. That was three.”

“Good Lord,” the chief said, shaking his head. “So, give. What are you taking?”

“Nothing,” Mike said. “I don’t take anything. I just don’t allow myself to come.”

“How?” Adams asked, exasperatedly. “I mean, Tinata is…”

“A knockout,” Mike finished. “A certified virgin the first time I screwed her, pretty as hell, great tits and a tight pussy. I just think of other things when I think I’m going to come. And keep going. For as long as I want.”

“What? Dead puppies?” Adams asked, curiously.

“No, mathematics, generally,” Mike admitted. “Multiplication tables. What’s eight times seven?”

“Uhm…”

“Right, if it’s not right there in your head, you have to think about it,” Mike said. “Most people do have to think about the sevens and eights in the tables. Anything that requires a bit of concentration. Something you have to think of to recite to yourself. Just… distract yourself to get out of the moment but keep them in it. And if you’ve got a modicum of control you can keep from coming. That way you can make a lady really happy, if you fit even vaguely. If she’s not into penile orgasms, there’s the fingers and tongue. And once a woman comes once, she generally will keep coming if you keep going. Most of the time they’ll say they want you to stop, but unless they’re really aggressive about it, keep going. Their orgasams just get larger and larger until they’re really over the edge. Simple as that.”

“I need to try that out,” Adams admitted. “Where the hell did you learn this?”

“I overanalyze,” Mike said, grinning. “You’ve told me so yourself. There’s more than one reason that they called me… what they called me on the teams. When you’re doing a sneak at that level, you have to be able to read a person, to know exactly what they are going to do, to feel everything around you. It’s not much different in bed. You’re a great entry guy, buddy, but you were never as good as I was at a sneak, right?”

“Admitted,” Adams said, shrugging. “And that makes you great in bed?”

“Believe it or not, it’s awful close,” Mike said, smiling thinly. “They’re both about power, trust me. When a woman is that much putty in my hands, it’s just like when the knife goes in on a target. There’s a reason they call orgasm the ‘little death.’ ”

“That’s sick,” Adams said, shaking his head.

“I never said I was a well man,” Mike replied, still smiling.

“Go ahead and try it on Flopsy, Bambi or Mopsy,” Mike continued, listing off three of the hookers by nickname. Cottontail’s impossible; cold as the Antarctic. Don’t even try.”

“She seems to have fun,” Adams said, frowning.

“She’s pretty good at faking, but not as good as she thinks,” Mike said, shrugging.

“How can you tell?” Adams asked.

“What, you want me to give up all my secrets?” Mike replied, grinning.

As soon as it was dark Mike donned combat gear and headed out to his personal Ford Expedition. He’d ordered various vehicles for the Keldara to get the farm on a more modern basis: When he bought the property the Keldara had still been using horse-drawn plows. Besides tractors he’d purchased trucks and SUVs for each of the Six Families. They doubled as transportation for the militia but were mostly used for farm work.

This was his personal Expedition, however, and although it seemed the same as the rest on the exterior, save for a spare antenna here and there, it was significantly modified on the interior. He’d given Vanner a bunch of money, and the electronics wiz had fitted it out with every conceivable bit of gear that he might need to control the militia. In effect, it was a roving command post.

He punched in a code on the dashboard-mounted computer and brought up current locations on all the training groups. Phase One of patrolling was about done and he’d hardly had a chance to go out and check them out. A group from Team Sawn was conveniently near the north road, while being well out of sight behind a ridge, so he put the SUV in gear and headed out.

The caravanserai was perched on a ridgeline overlooking the valley of the Keldara and at a height to be able to barely see into the town of Allerso which was in an upper valley. The driveway from the caravanserai ran down a series of switchbacks to the road that passed along the edge of the valley. The road was slightly elevated so that most of the valley could be viewed as he drove northward. The crops did, indeed, seem to be growing well and there was a new glow of electric light from the houses. When he’d arrived the Keldara didn’t have a pot to piss in, much less electricity. If he died tomorrow, or today, which on this road was a possibility, he’d have done that much good at least.